To be totally dreading the Olympics because I live in London

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I just am! Yesterday, I went to London Bridge to get to work and there was a practice for the Olympics and the whole station was in chaos and it was really shambolic. Last week I went to St James Park and most of it and the Mall was closed. It's going to add ages on to my journey. We have been told to cycle to work if we can but the bus lanes are to be closed so the VIP cars can use them and as i am sure anyone who cycles in central London will agree, this is going to cause lots of problems. Am sure the games themselves will be brilliant but it's the trying to get about in London bit I am dreading.

alphabite, I just came across this site which should help you navigate King's Cross.

Alphabite- what time of day do you need to get to London Bridge? The Northern line at at normal rush hour is crowded and often the barriers are shut to stop overcrowding on the platforms, I'd allow least 30 minute wait to get from the overground to the underground platform during rush hour.

It might be worth looking at bus routes, most 'out of town' visitors will automatically look for tubes or overground trains, buses might be a better option. If you try journey planner and say not tube you'll get more options.

It's not for us. Our job is just to pay for it, and try not to get in the way too much.

Spot on.

Also, not really related but this is funny pic - no chips to be served without fish outside of McD's in Olympic Park: twitpic.com/a6ctbg - (credit to Tom Chivers at the Telegraph)

I don't wnat ot be a total killjoy - the children are lovign having the Olympics and they've had a couple of the athletes at school plus the BMX team etc. I've just bought tickets to take the 3 DC to the Olympic Park for the day - I thought we might as well go and see it and get something out of all the hassle. Is taking three children by myself via Waterloo/Jubilee line to the Olympics mad?

I booked the tickets and refused to pay the SIX POUND postage charge (for tickets!) and instead chose the 'collect your tickets from an Olympic box office' option - turns out, there's only one and it's in Stratford :oO
Are they opening any more does anyone know?

Thanks tharsheblows.

Don'tmindifIdo. I arrive in Kings X just after 10am on a Saturday. My event is at 2pm at North Greenwich Arena. I've just spotted it's the same day as the Women's Triathlon / Men's 20km Race Walk which apparently may affect Kings X.

They do say to get there 2 hours before which I didn't realise until I got my tickets so in reality I have 4 hours to get across town but really need to do it in 2 if possible. What do you think. Doable?

AJ - No my uncle doesn't issue invoice... olympic people have an account with his company so to speak.

Obviously the woman would be made redundant... it does however seem stupid that the olympic people employed a woman to pop into councils to ask if traffic wardens can give out less tickets! Surely Boris should say "you are to do this..." bish bash bosh no need to waste money on some bird travelling about asking nicely. Her expenses didn't come out of her own pocket. It's hilarious what people divulge to cabbies.

I'm dreading it I live just past the Olympic stadium and work near London bridge. I've been avoiding London bridge and walking from st pauls but they now say that it'll be really busy from 4pm and to avoid it. Bank will be hell so will Liverpool street.
I'm lucky that i can work from home but I still have meetings which will mean that I'll probably need to come into the office most days anyway. Will have to remember to have lunch meeting during this time so everyone can get it.
Also I can park in my drive but there are now signs up and down my street saying it is now for Olympic parking and residents cant park on the road during the olympics -- where is everyone supposed to park???!!!!!

Hear hear DontmindifIdo

staranise - I didn't know you could buy tickets to go to the park! How much were they? My DCs would love to go but I said the tickets were all sold last year.

The Olympics coming to BRITAIN was fantastic and we were thrilled (as I said upthread I lived in Weymouth at the time so on the doorstep of the sailing)
We saved money so that DS could go and see it- we have no more chance of sailing tickets than someone who lives in Edinburgh, despite the disruption to us.
Local areas where you may catch a sneaky peek of the events have been surrounded by hoarding to stop the plebs getting a sneaky peek without buying a ticket. This also includes an area we used to picnic in, areas where elderly friends walk their dog etc.
As mentioned earlier there was no need for the games to be in London, Britain has far bigger, more modern cities that could cope with the volumes of people expected far easier. Why not have spread it around the country, the income and jobs generated would have been fairly distributed and the chance of a massive terrorist attck would have been removed.
Also, why this mania for building new sporting complexes (all within the confines of London) Within about 15 miles of us we have an Olympic standard clay pigeon ground (where the GB team used to train) Rather than use this, a new venue has been built. The same with the eventing, I believed the original idea was to use Gatcombe Park (though I could be mistaken)
The Olympics COULD have been a fantastic opportunity for us, sadly it seems to have turned out as great for the few and hard luck for the disenfranchised folk on the ground. It will still be exciting times but sadly not as all inclusive as it might have been

What city do you suggest it takes place in topbannana?

because London is the biggest UK city by land area and by population. Although I agree somewhere like Birminham, Glasgow or Manchester could possibly handle it as well.

London makes more sense though as it caters well the tourist population already so the number of hotel rooms is higher. London is also served by several airports and dozens of train stations whereas more Northern cities tend to have 1 aiport and only a few train stations.

Alphabite - could you look at overground for Kings Cross to London Bridge? I think you can go from St Pancreas (so just next to Kings Cross) to London bridge on the line that's going to Gatwick then Brighton, worth checking if you can avoid the tube altogether.

From London Bridge, you might be able to get the over-ground train to either Greewich or failing that, Blackheath then walk across the heath to Greenwich park (if hte park is closed, there's roads running down the side of it)

As for which city it takes place in instead, I would have thought Birmingham would be good - large city, central, would benefit from having a chance to showcase itself to the world, get businesses to see that actually, it's really not a long journey from London... Manchester did a really good job with the Common Wealth games (I was living there at the time, there was no noticable disruption or people complaining, it seemed to just be a bit busier but everyone just got on with it, I know common wealth games are smaller, but not that much smaller, and they obviously already had most of the venues needed, give them a lick of paint and they'd be good to go for Olympics), and really, when was the last time a Scottish city got a big world event? Glasgow games would have been a fabulous...

My Olympic strategy goes like this. Week 1: on holiday. Week 2: on way back from holiday, deposit dd with grandparents for a week so I don't actually have to BE anywhere to pick her up after work. Means she'll miss out on the excitement of being in London during the Olympics, but it's the only way we can do it (live in southeast London, work in west London, use London Bridge, which I'll be avoiding like the plague).

Thanks DontmindifIdo. I will look into that.

alphabite (and anyone else traveling around London) - I highly recommend Twitter for on the day traffic info. KXLDN is on twitter and I really like @BBCTravelAlert which is exactly what it says on the tin (and, depending on who's tweeting, pretty funny).

Also use the search function if you want to know what's happening right then - it pays to know when to bail on your current method of transport and walk (you can walk from King's Cross to Olympic Park in about 2 hours - use the canal from Islington then pop up in Hackney and go through Victoria Park- there is a walking route which should be signposted). I use Twitter to check on traffic regularly - Hackney has a tendency to get a bit gridlocked at the best of times.

I think many tube stations will have wifi during the Olympics, too.

YANBU. But, I was living in Sydney during the 2000 Olympics. The lead up was exactly the same, everybody predicting mayhem and traffic chaos. I planned a holiday on the other side of the country to avoid it all.

Everything ran much better than predicted, and all our friends said there was an amazing, party atmosphere. I was a bit disappointed to have missed it all.

So it might not be as bad as you think it will be. It might even be good!

Mind you, the Aussies are the best at doing everything

Thanks tharsheblows.

Spare a thought for small businesses (us) who rely on people travelling by road across London to customers as needed. We can't plan all our work in advance because we don't know where and when it will come from, and although as much as possible we are scheduling work for areas that shouldn't be impacted too much, it is impossible to gauge the impact on the roads until it all gets going.

At the same time we can't just tell employees they won't be working. They have mortgages, families etc and we have to keep paying them even if they are bringing in negligible amounts. It's a big headache.

However, from a non-business point of view I am looking forward to being in London at the centre of it all. We're in London for almost the whole summer and will be going into the centre a lot. the kids are really excited.

the thing is, London is just stuck at the best of times

It isn't well run, and this'll only make it worse

and don't get me started on the anti terrorist measures. Or the sponsors. Or that arsehole Boris. OR the fact that we live down the road and haven't had any sniff of tickets

I think you can go from St Pancreas (so just next to Kings Cross)

SpringHeeledJack. I didn't get tickets either despite bidding for lots. Bought online a couple of weeks ago. There are still tickets out there.